Bowden Francis flirts with history in dominant outing vs. Angels

The reigning American League player of the week Bowden Francis took a no-hitter into the ninth innings against the Angels on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre in his eighth career start. Francis was bidding to become the first Blue Jays pitcher since Dave Stieb in 1990 to achieve this feat until Taylor Ward’s leadoff home run in the top of the ninth on his 117th pitch. John Schneider stated ‘he had no intention of lifting Francis until he gave up that hit’ nonetheless he left a well-deserved standing ovation.

The Blue Jays kept their perfect record intact against the Angels in 2024 with a 3-1 victory thanks to RBI doubles from Joey Loperfido and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. who also hit his 27th homer of the season. Francis improved his record to 7-3 in a season full of ups and downs converting between a starting pitcher and a long reliever. He’s been optioned twice and spent some time on the injured list with right forearm tendinitis. Since he was recalled from Buffalo on July 29th for game two of the doubleheader against Baltimore he’s lowered his ERA from 5.68 to 4.02. During this time he’s given up just seven runs, four walks and 36 strikeouts, leaning more heavily towards his fastball and splitter. He owns a sparkling 1.32 ERA in August and should be in consideration for AL pitcher of the month.

Francis’ dominance is a boost for the Blue Jays rotation which ranks 26th this season in ERA. Kevin Gausman, José Berríos and Chris Bassitt have been worked heavily plus Yariel Rodriguez is approaching a pitch limit so the Blue Jays intend to give them an extra day of rest down the stretch. Francis has more than earned his place at the back the rotation as the fifth starter and the Blue Jays options for the sixth man in the rotation are: Jake Bloss thriving Buffalo since the Yusei Kikuchi trade and Ryan Yarbrough. Even though Francis was three outs short of making history on Saturday his recent success simply can’t be ignored.